ShopKo officials are shocked by the magnitude of an $11,000 shoplifting spree in Twin Falls but believe the security system can prevent such thefts.
"I feel the steps are in place, although it did give us a new light on a different scam that is being used right now," store manager Dana Jahn said.Two women and a man from San Jose, Calif., entered the store up to a dozen times Friday, grabbing film and razors and loading them into their car, said Twin Falls Police Detective Dennis Rinehart.
Police said the women wore maternity shirts with elastic waistbands, which they filled with goods, while the man pocketed watches and walked out of the store. They may have planned to resell the stolen merchandise in Mexico for higher prices.
"They call them booster bellies," Rinehart said. "It's not real common, but it happens."
They confessed to the crimes after a ShopKo security guard caught a woman with pilfered products, Rinehart said.
Mercedes Guerdes Martinez, 32, Eva Quintana Alvarez, 33, and Jose Leo Rodriguez, 33, were arraigned Monday on charges of burglary.
They were being held Tuesday in the Twin Falls County Jail on $5,000 bonds, but the U.S. Border Patrol is keeping them on suspicion that they are illegal aliens, meaning they cannot bond out of jail.
"They are probably taking it to resorts, the tourist traps, and you are coming down (to Mexico) and buying them at outrageous prices," Rinehart said.